Recipe: Cinnamon Cheesecake Stuffed Banana Muffins

     I love to bake.  I love cooking too, but there is something special about baking that relaxes me.  It's soothing to mix all of the very different ingredients together and watch them transform into something yummy in the oven.  And the smells, oh my goodness, the smells in a kitchen while baking are the smells of dreams.  Baking can be challenging, and I'm gluten-free which comes with even more challenges.  If you're gluten free then you know that baking gluten free is hard.  Stuff comes out dry and crumbly, nothing rises right, and even if your finished product looks good it probably has some texture issues when you try to eat it.  That's because in baking gluten is what stretches and holds everything together.  When that's missing, things can get weird.
     I was extremely discouraged when I first tried baking after being diagnosed with celiac disease.  Everything I tried to make was gross, or looked horrible, or both.  But I didn't give up.  I've been practicing, forcing family and coworkers to try my gluten free baked goods.  And all that practice has paid off.  I think I'm pretty good at gluten free baking now.  I've learned how to adjust recipes and which products to use.  So, I'm going to start sharing my recipes here.
     We are starting with muffins.  Muffin batter is really the same as quick bread batter, we are just pouring it into muffin tins instead of a loaf pan.  At first glance this recipe seems hard, we are mixing up a topping, a filling and a batter.  But if you prepare your ingredients for each step before starting and just go step by step it's actually pretty simple!  Quick bread batter is very easy to make gluten free.  It's a very moist batter, and it stays fairly dense even after it rises in the oven.  The trick is to make sure you don't overmix the batter.  You can use a mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer) for the filling and to start the batter, but when you add the dry ingredients just stir it in by hand, and only stir until the dry ingredients have been mixed in.
     For this recipe I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 baking flour.  This is my go-to baking flour.  It's a mixture of several different flours and the xanthan gum already mixed in.

Cinnamon Cheesecake Stuffed Banana Muffins

Makes 10 large muffins; prep time: 25 minutes, bakes for 22 minutes = total time 47 minutes

Ingredients:

Streusel Topping:

6 Tablespoons flour

6 Tablespoons brown sugar

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 Tablespoons salted butter, cold and cubed

Cheesecake Filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffin Batter:

3 over-ripe bananas

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

½ cup vanilla greek yoghurt (can also use sour cream)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Streusel topping:

In a small bowl mix together flour, brown sugar and ground cinnamon until well blended.  Add butter and rub into dry mixture with fingertips until all dry ingredients have been mixed in and the whole thing is the texture of wet sand.  Put in refrigerator to chill until right before baking.

Cheescake Filling:

In a medium bowl blend together the cream cheese and the granulated sugar, using a hand mixer and beating until smooth.  (If your cream cheese is lumpy it means it is still too cold.)  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.  Add the flour and ground cinnamon and beat until well blended.  Set aside.

Muffin Batter:

In a large bowl beat the bananas with a hand mixer until fairly smooth.  (You can use the same beaters you used for the filling.  The mixture of flavors really won’t make that big a difference.)   Add the melted butter and both sugars.  Mix until well blended and sugars have dissolved.  Add the eggs, vanilla extract and yoghurt.  Beat until they are all blended. 

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a spoon (I prefer a wooden spoon, the point is not to use the mixer at this stage.) just until the dry ingredients are all mixed in.  Be careful not to overstir. 

Making the muffins:

Grease 2 large muffin tins well (Mine make 6 muffins each and this recipe makes 10 large muffins).  Pour ¼ cup of muffin batter into the bottom of each of 10 muffin cups.  Add approximately 3 Tablespoons of cheesecake filling to each muffin cup.  Gently spread the filling over the batter in each muffin cup so you can’t see any batter.  Now pour in enough muffin batter to fill each muffin cup so that they are all ¾ of the way full.  Remember they are going to rise, don’t fill them too full or they will run over and make a mess in your oven.  Sprinkle the top of each muffin with the streusel topping we kept in the refrigerator until just this moment.  Distribute the streusel topping evenly.  Be generous, it’s fabulous.

Bake the muffins for 22 minutes.  To test for doneness place a toothpick into the center of 1 muffin, if it comes out with batter still on it bake for a few more minutes.  If there are moist crumbs only on the toothpick your muffins are done. 

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes.  Then transfer to a wire cooling rack to continue cooling. 

Obscura - Review

Title: Obscura

Author: Joe Hart  

Synopsis: “She’s felt it before… the fear of losing control.  And it’s happening again.

     “In the near future, an aggressive and terrifying new form of dementia is affecting victims of all ages.  The cause is unknown, and the symptoms are disturbing.  Dr. Gillian Ryan is on the cutting edge of research and desperately determined to find a cure.  She’s already lost her husband to the disease, and now her young daughter is slowly succumbing as well.  After losing her funding, she is given the unique opportunity to expand her research.  She will travel with a NASA team to a space station where the crew has been stricken with symptoms of a similar inexplicable psychosis – memory loss, trances, and violent uncontrollable impulses.

     “Crippled by a secret addiction and suffering from creeping paranoia, Gillian finds her journey becoming a nightmare as unexplainable and violent events plague the mission.  With her grip weakening on reality, she starts to doubt her own innocence.  And she’s beginning to question so much more – like the true nature of the mission, the motivations of the crew, and every deadly new secret space has to offer.

     “Merging thrilling science-fiction adventure with mind-bending psychological suspense, Wall Street Journal bestselling author Joe Hart explores both the vast mysteries of outer space and the even darker unknown that lies within ourselves.”

Review:  This was the first book that I’ve read by author Joe Hart.  I loved it, and I now own two more that have been added to my TBR pile.  Be warned though, Obscura rips your heart out in the very beginning and lodges it firmly in your throat until the very end when it is placed neatly back into your chest.  I started it last night before bed, a very bad habit of mine is starting a new book at bedtime, and read way past my bedtime.  I read about half last night, and immediately picked it back up this morning and finished before breakfast.  Thank goodness I had today off.  If I had to go to work leaving this book unfinished I don’t know if I would have been able to concentrate all day. 

     Obscura is a murder mystery set in space, and it’s awesome.  The main character is a real person dealing with real issues.  I hate it when the main character of a book is perfect and bad things just happen to happen to them.  This is not like that.  Gillian struggles with addiction, and it’s a large part of the book.  The character development is extremely well done.  The characters are so real that at times I forgot I was reading a book about fictional people.  It doesn’t get much better than this.

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review via NetGalley.**

Publisher:  Thomas & Mercer

If you like this book you may want to read:

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey

Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon

Life's Ups and Downs

 There has been a lot going on in my life lately.  I accepted a new position at work on February 14th.  It's a great position for me.  I'm not standing and walking all day anymore, my legs and feet are so much happier with me.  The leg that has been giving me trouble has been so much better since I finally started in the new position three weeks ago.  And there's no more face to face with angry customers.  I think that's actually been the biggest relief to me.  I felt like my soul was withering away being constantly exposed to so much anger and rudeness.  However, because life is full of ups and downs, then my Grandmother passed away on March 1st after a terrible battle with lung cancer.  

     She was one of my favorite people in the entire world. 

Nana

When I was a child my parents split up.  It's hard for any kid when their life dramatically changes like that, no matter how hard their parents try to make it easy on them.  My Nana was my rock.  Her house was always the same; and she was always the same.  We spent weeks at a time there during the summer.  We would swim, garden, fish, hike and play.  Her house was the one place I was always comfortable and safe.

     You know how some people are just meant to be grandmothers?  They have that aura of grandmotherliness, and mother everyone they come in contact with.  That was my Nana.  My friends called her Grandma or Nana, and she loved them like they were her own grandchildren.  She fed everybody.  You couldn't stop in for even a quick visit without her offering to cook you something.  And she wouldn't let you refuse.  You had to, at the very least, let her get you a cup of coffee and a toad in the hole.  

     When I separated and divorced from my first husband I moved in with Nana and my Aunt.  She never said "I told you so" or made me feel bad about my admittedly bad decisions up until that point.  She welcomed me with open arms and helped me get back on my feet.  Even after I moved out into my own place I called her at least once a week and was still over there all the time.  Now I can't pick up the phone and call her to tell her about the recipe I want to try, or the craft project I'm working on, or the book I'm reading.  I talk to her still, and I know she hears me.  But it's not the same.   

     We had a lot in common.  Both introverts.  Both caring, loving women, almost to a fault sometimes.  Since March 1st I've struggled pretty much everyday with a feeling like there is a hole inside of me. My depression hit me hard.  For a few weeks after the funeral I struggled with even getting out of bed in the morning.  But I did, because I knew that if I didn't get up, even just one day, it would make getting up the next day even harder.  If that happened, eventually I just might not get up at all.  I hid it.  I covered it up well. 

There's never enough coffee.

    I got up everyday.  I went to work.  I smiled and I pretended I was fine.  I hid it well.  Most people never knew.  But inside there was a hole that radiated cold pain.  As time went by the hole got smaller and smaller.  I started to feel better.  The smiles became more real, not all of them were fake anymore. 

Kitty snuggles are a must have for self-care.

 







Now, twelve weeks later, I feel a lot better.  I practiced a lot of self care, which for me involves copious amounts of coffee; kitty snuggles; twice weekly dinner of chips, guac and queso from Chipotle; and hermit time.  The cold hole is still there, but it's tiny.  I'm going to be ok.  I like to compare life to a roller coaster.  It's full of ups and downs and sometimes it twists you around and upside down.  But a flat roller coaster isn't any fun, and neither is a flat life.      

Pretty sure I ate my own weight in chips, guac and queso from Chipotle.

Blog Changes

     There are going to be some changes happening around here.  You can expect to see more journal-style posts about my life.  I'll be posting recipes I'm trying; gluten free cooking and shopping tips; and some general life posts about what I've been up to.  All in addition to my book review posts, and posts about books I'm looking forward to. SuperSteve is trying to talk me into posting some videos. I'm interested but not entirely sold on the idea yet. 

I'm setting up some new posts today.  I have a lot of help: